An A to Z of Diasporic Life

Abstract

‘Diaspora’ often rhymes with nostalgia for reasons linked to the very nature of diasporic living, from the original moment of ‘unmooring’ from the homeland, to the process of rerooting of diasporic populations in the host country. The shaping of the collective memory of a diaspora, which marks the specificity of diasporas as opposed to other forms of migrations and their more individual trajectories, takes various forms: the forced erasure of history in formerly colonized countries (Memmi) often leaves an indelible mark which the trauma of loss and the sometimes dramatic contexts of diasporic unmooring reinforce. Memory builds up in a rhizomatic way, randomly weaving together fragments of different contexts, creating a storebank of jarring polarities. The following text seeks to evidence the constitutive iteration of the diasporic psyche from the initial moment of uprooting and displacement which signals the start of diasporic living. It revolves around the forming of a collective memory, passed on and transmitted to younger generations, and which holds the members of the diaspora together. The form of the A to Z imposes strict formal constraints, which the free-floating associations seek to challenge. The following ABC is by no means an exhaustive presentation of diasporic experience as a whole — how could it be — but a personal take on contemporary diasporic writers and artists mainly from the West Indies and South Asia through references and allusions to their works.